Create a stylish garden that looks bigger than it isCréer son style de jardin en "élargir l'espace"

A garden devoid of structure, striking plants or special purpose will be easily forgotten. We should try to give our garden a specific character in order to make it memorable. Creating a garden reflects how we see nature and depends on visual effects, and, as when painting a picture of a landscape, we should follow rules about harmony.

We can create harmony in a garden by disguising its boundaries and by managing the space through perspectives, lines, masses, colours, light…. We react to certain shapes and colours on the basis of human reflexes, something to bear in mind when creating a garden. In addition we must take account of plant size, the seasons and our own sensitivities.

Trees, essential for a garden, provide verticals and volume, and are even more interesting when they also have curves. We can make our landscape into a picture by using diagonals to provide perspective.

Symmetry and balance
It is possible to use verticals and volume to provide balance without everything being symmetrical. Symmetry tends to close things in and sometimes encourages one’s eye to look beyond it.

The smaller the garden, the more important the choice of plants.
Place big plants in front of small, using large-leaved subjects in the foreground to enhance the appearance of space.

Verticals go in front of horizontals to draw the eye to the back of the border.
Put glossy leaves in front of matt, structural foliage in front of softer leaves.
Light colours in front of dark will give depth to the border.

Colour
Tones of colour lighten or darken the look, as when one adds black or white to a picture.
Shaded tones show up contours and create volume.
White monopolizes our attention; our eyes are drawn to it.

If we look first at orange, blues will appear bluer. Similarly, yellows look bolder in proximity to mauve and this rule holds for all the complementary colours. A picture gains in vivacity when colours from opposing sides of the wheel are used, a single colour range can look cold and monotonous. The most striking is the contrast between hot colours (red, pink, orange and yellow) and cold ones (blue, mauve and green).